United Nations human rights experts called on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government on Oct. 3 to clarify the fate and whereabouts of more than 120 individuals who appear to have been forcibly disappeared after the violent suppression of anti-government protests in 2018. The experts also urged the state to cease using arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance as tools of political repression.

In a press release issued through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the experts warned that families' repeated attempts to locate their loved ones have been met with conflicting information, silence or threats. They documented a pattern in which detainees are held in secret and often denied access to lawyers, medical care or family contact, underscoring that "keeping families in the dark" acts as a mechanism of control.

The experts emphasized that state responsibility is implicated under international law where disappearances are secret, prolonged, and accompanied by torture or death in custody. They argued that such practices amount to a deliberate strategy to eliminate dissent, erode due process, and instill fear across society.

The appeal comes amid broader findings by the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua, which in recent reports has documented escalating repression, including transnational targeting of exiles, denial of passports, asset confiscation, and forced deprivation of nationality. The experts have also identified high-level officials in their 2025 report, connecting command structures to human rights violations across the state apparatus.

While the Nicaraguan government has largely remained nonresponsive to such demands since 2018, the experts called on it to cooperate with UN mechanisms, provide full and prompt information to affected families, release those unlawfully detained, and launch independent investigations into alleged abuses.

International observers say this development could increase pressure on Managua to allow more access and accountability, particularly as it faces scrutiny from regional bodies and human rights treaty systems. Whether the Ortega administration will respond remains uncertain—but the UN experts' call adds a renewed spotlight to a long-standing human rights crisis.

From JURIST, Oct. 4. Used with permission.